Sirocco Kadesh, a French 10-year-old trotter under the guidance of Noel Baldacchino, won the major event on the card yesterday – the Krafft Championship final for Silver Class.
This final, on a short distance of 2,140m, formed part of the 19th meeting of the season, made up of nine races all for trotters.
Baldacchino was the best driver of the afternoon with five wins.
Eleven trotters took part in the final. Prince Lu (Shawn Portelli) was the fastest at first and shot ahead from Sirocco Kadesh (Noel Baldacchino) and Sitka Rod (Tony Demanuele).
However with 300m to go, the early pacesetter failed to keep the pace going and started to slow down. In the final straight, Prince Lu was overtaken by Sirocco Kadesh which eventually claimed its first win at Marsa ahead of Sorcier d’Orient (Kurt Saliba).
Prince Lu had to settle for third place with Ramses De Tyrole (Anton Cassar) fourth.
At the end of the race, Shawn Pete Azzopardi, on behalf of the sponsors, presented the winning trophy to owner Gorg Spiteri and Baldacchino.
Two Premier Class races, on a long distance of 2,640m, were also in programme yesterday.
In the first, Baldacchino put Sensei in front midway through the distance and the Danish trotter went on to secure its second win in a row easily by a length and a half from Smarty Jet (Jason Vassallo) and Robinson Wic (Clint Vassallo).
Orcas Bac (Rodney Gatt) finished fourth.
In the other Premier Class race, Ricky Rock (Noel Baldacchino) upped its pace with a lap to go.
The 11-year-old trotter took the lead midway through the straight and prevailed ahead of Quillian Joyeux (Andrew Farrugia), Rocco Darche (Ludvic Ghigo) and Ohime Mag (Ronald Cassar) in that order.
That was Baldacchino’s fifth win of the day. Earlier in the afternoon, the Żejtun driver had also triumphed with Lajos Bellan and Touareg Du Boscail in two Silver Class races.
Another meeting at Marsa will be held on Sunday.
Yesterday’s winners
Race 1: Silver – Rossi Dream (Gaetano Abdilla) – 1.17.2”
Race 2: Silver – Touareg Du Boscail (Noel Baldacchino) – 1.17.3”
Race 3: Silver – Lajos Bellan (Noel Baldacchino) – 1.18”
Race 4: Premier – Sensei (Noel Baldacchino) – 1.16”
Race 5: Gold – Ursiking (Mario Falzon) – 1.18.4”
Race 6: Silver – Sirocco Kadesh (Noel Baldacchino) – 1.15.8”
Race 7: Gold – Original Blue (Chris Cassar) – 1.16.6”
Race 8: Premier – Ricky Rock (Noel Baldacchino) – 1.15.4”
Race 9: Silver – Cummin (Rodney Gatt) – 1.16.5”